Shackle ford

A bargain purchase for just $16,000 at Keeneland’s September 2015 yearling sale, Gunnevera has earned nearly $1.2 million over his career. In his most recent start, Gunnevera got jammed at the start and floated wide in the stretch and never threatened while seventh in the May 6 Kentucky Derby.

Orphaned as a foal, Gunnevera made his first three starts at Gulfstream Park where he broke his maiden last summer before bursting on the national scene with a come-from-behind victory in the Saratoga Special (G2) at Saratoga Race Course.

He wound up his juvenile season running fifth to 2-year-old champion Classic Empire in the Breeders’ Futurity prior to winning the $1 million Delta Jackpot (G3). The 2015 Delta Jackpot winner, Exaggerator, would go on to win the 2016 Preakness.

Gunnevera, named for a small town in Spain, opened his 3-year-old campaign running second to Irish War Cry in the Holy Bull (G2) at Gulfstream. He returned four weeks later with a commanding 5 ¾-length victory in the Fountain of Youth (G2) that punched his ticket to the Florida Derby (G1).

The late-running Gunnevera found himself too far back in the Florida Derby but was able to rally for third behind eventual Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming.

Jockey

Mike Smith

The 51-year-old Hall of Famer, known as ‘Big Money’ Mike Smith for his uncanny ability to produce in some of the world’s biggest races despite a scaled-back workload, will be making his 16th appearance in the Preakness.

Smith won the Preakness with Prairie Bayou in 1993 and was second with Bodemeister in 2012 and Mine That Bird in 2009. The New Mexico native made history at Pimlico that year, inheriting the mount when Calvin Borel took off the Kentucky Derby winner to ride filly and eventual winner and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.

A native of Roswell, N.M., Smith began riding at the age of 16 in Santa Fe and went on to dominate New York racing in the early 1990s, finishing first in races won from 1991-93, winning Saratoga Race Course riding titles each of those years, and earning back-to-back Eclipse Awards as top jockey in 1993 and 1994.

Smith was the regular rider for 1994 Horse of the Year Holy Bull as well as Zenyatta, who won 19 consecutive starts, including an historic victory in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, before losing her final race by a head to Blame in her return to the Classic in 2010, when she was voted Horse of the Year.

In 2005, Smith won his only Kentucky Derby with 50-to-1 long shot Giacomo, and in 2011 he captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic with Drosselmeyer. He owns nearly 5,400 career wins including a record 25 Breeders’ Cup victories.

This year Smith won the world’s two richest races, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park and the $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan aboard Arrogate, the 2016 champion 3-year-old male. He also captured the 2017 Kentucky Oaks (G1) on Abel Tasman.

Owner

Peacock Racing Stables

Guillermo Guerra and his father-in-law Solomon Del-Valle of Venezuela and Jaime Diaz Mengotti of Spain are partners in Peacock Racing Stables.

Del-Valle, 66, is a businessman and thoroughbred owner who has been around horses since a young age and had as many as 40 in training at one time. He has been a friend and client of trainer Antonio Sano for four decades, going back to their time in Venezuela.

Having attended the races since the age of 6, Del-Valle first came to the U.S. in 1971 to see Venezuela’s Canonero II, who won the Kentucky Derby earlier that spring, finish fourth in the Belmont Stakes. He is on his third trip to America, a self-described 52-day journey through the Triple Crown races.

He no longer races in Venezuela and has only one other horse in training, a 4-year-old filly that is winless in 17 lifetime starts. Her most recent came May 4 at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico.

Trainer

Antonio Sano

Gunnevera gave 54-year-old Antonio Sano, a third-generation horseman from Caracas, Venezuela, his first starter in an American Triple Crown race.

Since relocating from his home country in 2009, Sano has established a year-round presence in South Florida, based at Gulfstream Park West, formerly Calder Race Course, and racing primarily at Gulfstream Park.

Sano is a legend in Venezuela with more than 3,300 career victories, and won individual meet titles at Gulfstream Park in 2016 and Calder and Tropical-at-Calder in 2011. In addition to Gunnevera’s victories in the Saratoga Special (G2), Delta Jackpot (G3) and Fountain of Youth (G2), Sano has enjoyed graded stakes success with City of Weston, Devilish Lady and Grand Tito.

Because of his success as a trainer, Sano was kidnapped twice in Venezuela, both times returning safely to his family. His friend and client, Solomon Del-Valle, collected money from Sano’s friends and peers and delivered the ransom to bring him home the second time.